


Culture Shock

by LoneDogInCar



Category: The LEGO Movie (2014)
Genre: Emmet can't words, F/M, Gen, Unreliable Narrator, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic, too many line breaks oof
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 04:01:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20303131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoneDogInCar/pseuds/LoneDogInCar
Summary: “How do you do it?” She asked. When Emmet frowned in confusion, she elaborated. “How do you stay so… positive?”Emmet felt guilty again. It wasn’t that he was making an effort to look on the bright side or anything. It was callous to even think, but this was pretty much the coolest thing that had ever happened to him.





	Culture Shock

If Emmet were to describe his life so far, he’d say it was awesome.

Bricksburg was a great place to live. He had food, water, shelter, a job, and most importantly, he had his friends! His coworkers were really nice people and he smiled each time he saw them.

He had never heard the word “bored” before, but he wouldn’t describe himself with it. Okay, doing the same job and listening to the same song every day could loosely fit under the phrase “soul-numbing”, but there was something soothing about it. He knew he could always rely on his schedule to stay the same and coffee prices to keep going up.

Even if he did have something new, like a second song to listen to, he was sure things would stay the same (“Everything is Awesome” would stay his favorite, singing it with his best friends in the world was always the highlight of his day).

Sometimes, he did feel a little pang of something, though. Like when he looked around his apartment and Planty was the only one there. Or when his coworkers didn’t respond to him. But that part was his own fault.

So, yeah, Emmet’s life was good. It was awesome.

Then, he saw the most beautiful woman ever and found out how much more awesome everyone else’s lives had been.

* * *

So much had passed in a blur. The police officer, Bad Cop, had nearly killed him for the weird piece stuck to his back. The beautiful woman had come back again and fought off some bad guys and built a motorcycle in, like, three seconds. Emmet had gotten caught up in a real-life car chase!

It was all incredibly scary and that video Bad Cop showed him was a little upsetting, but despite it all…

“... the Prophecy states that you are the most important, most talented, most interesting, and most extraordinary person in the universe.”

For a moment, he really believed it. It was the greatest feeling he’d ever felt, like “Everything is Awesome” but cranked up to a million, like he could fly if he just tried hard enough.

The woman sitting in front of him continued. “That’s you, right?”

The first word that came to mind was “no”.

But it had hurt when Barry, Gail, Randy, and the others hadn’t remembered who he was. It kind of still hurt a lot, actually.

If he said yes, he could be remembered as something more than a blank slate. He could feel more of the awesome flying feeling.

“Uh… yes. That’s me.” Emmet said. He was immediately crushed with guilt.

“Great. You drive.”

The next word that came to mind was “what”.

Emmet had a lot less time to think or feel guilty after that.

* * *

“You’re not the Special! You lied to me!”

It had only been a minute or so since the car chase and things had already fallen apart. Emmet could salvage this, though. He could!

“Well, I mean it depends… it really depends on…” The words ran out. Alright, maybe salvaging this would be more difficult than he’d first thought.

“You’re not even a Master Builder, are you?”

Wyldstyle, the beautiful, daring, extraordinary woman who’d saved him and kicked butt, turned and walked away. She was so much more than him and now she knew it, too. It hurt more than the video.

He followed her, not because he was lost (well, not only because of that), but because this couldn’t just be the end of it.

“Uh… I mean I know what a Master Builder is, why don’t you tell me what it is? That way I could see if you’re right.” He was rambling now. He’d never been great at conversations.

“You ruined the Prophecy.” And that hurt even more.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Emmet said. “You just made being special sound so… good.”

He didn’t know how else to say it. Words weren’t his strong suit. How was he supposed to put in context how it was like the skies had opened up when she had spoken to him that first time? Or the horrible realization that he wasn’t special compared to her? Or how time seemed to have slowed down when he’d first seen her?

Yet, all his problems paled in comparison to hers, once again. “To think I was going to follow you to the end of the universe.”

He started rambling again, but he wasn’t really thinking about the conversation anymore.

He hadn’t noticed before, but this place was unlike anything he’d ever heard of. The sky was an endless blue, the horizon held nothing but rock arches, and there was no sound. The chatter of people, cars, and construction were all gone.

How big even was this universe? What had Wyldstyle seen in her life? How far would she have gone for him?

No answer was forthcoming, but Wyldstyle spotted what looked like _ actual cowboys _and things got crazy again.

* * *

The first car chase had been crazy, but this one was _ crazy _ crazy.

It was so crazy that it lasted from the Old West all the way to a place called Cloud Cuckoo Land and _ then _ all the way down into the ocean in a submarine.

Oh yeah, Batman was here too and he was apparently Wyldstyle’s boyfriend. And there were a bunch of other Master Builders now, like the wizard guy and the space guy.

Also, an entire land got destroyed because of Emmet. He hadn’t noticed the tracker. His speech to the Master Builders hadn’t gone over great either (again, not the best at conversations). There was a whole heck of a lot to feel guilty about, not least of which was that he’d barely contributed anything to the construction of the submarine.

The guilt had been there since this whole adventure-thing started, but now it had a bite.

Yet despite the danger and how awfully things had taken a turn, Emmet’s heart was pounding. There was a smile on his face. All of this was strange, new, and life-threatening, but it was also something he’d never even _ dreamed _ could be possible.

As Unikitty rushed over to the windows, Wyldstyle approached Emmet. That latter thing was strange because she had barely spoken to him since the Old West.

“How do you do it?” She asked. When Emmet frowned in confusion, she elaborated. “How do you stay so… positive?”

Emmet felt guilty again. It wasn’t that he was making an effort to look on the bright side or anything. It was callous to even think, but this was pretty much the coolest thing that had ever happened to him.

Her attention was thankfully diverted when Unikitty started crying and water started leaking into the sub.

* * *

Everything had been going so well -- Emmet had actually come up with a plan! They’d almost made it, too, and everyone had been working as a team and Lucy had told him her real name, and, and… they’d failed.

His plan had almost worked, but it hadn’t. In the end, as the Special (not special), it was his fault they were all trapped and all his friends (not friends) in Bricksburg were getting Kragled.

“Emmet, you’ll… you’ll think of something, right? Like you always do.” Benny said. Benny still trusted him even though he really shouldn’t.

Emmet wasn’t the Special and if he ever had been, he’d been a terrible one. The guilt gnawed at him, and even worse, the happiness and excitement he was _ still _ feeling did, too (this tower was incredible and _ Lord Business _ was here, in the plastic flesh! There were _ actual heroes _ like _ Superman _ here, this is the _ best day _).

Then, Emmet stopped thinking about his feelings and came up with a plan.

At the edge of the world, he turned back and smiled. He was going to die, sure, but everyone else was going to be saved. He didn’t have to feel guilty anymore, not if he did this.

“Emmet!” Lucy screamed.

He fell from the infinitely tall tower down into impossibly beautiful colors. He’d never seen anything like this in Bricksburg.

* * *

Somehow, everything worked out.

Emmet was a hero and a Master Builder. Lord Business stopped terrorizing the people. The other Master Builders worked side-by-side with normal citizens. The Duplon aliens were driven back, at least temporarily. Even Bad Cop got a redemption.

At the end of it, it was like no time had passed at all, yet everything was different.

There was no more guilt, now that he’d realized just why he’d been so scared yet happy even in the worst of situations. It was for the same reason why he’d loved Bricksburg: he’d been working as a team with his friends.

“Hey, Lucy,” he said. They were sitting together on a beam, taking a break from rebuilding the city. “Sorry for thinking you were a DJ because your name was Wyldstyle.”

She laughed. “Why are you apologizing for that now?”

“I was just thinking!” Emmet defended himself. “I’ve lived in Bricksburg my whole life, you know. Wyldstyle isn’t exactly a common name here.

“It’s other stuff, too. You’ve had such an exciting life with Batman and the other Master Builders, but I lived in this city and did the same things everyday. The Old West, Middle Zealand, and Cloud Cuckoo Land are the only places other than Bricksburg I’ve ever seen. When we first met, I didn’t even know what Master Builders were. Everything since then has been kind of overwhelming.”

“... I can see that.” Lucy said. “I can get the others to stay here for a while if you need some time to get used to all this.”

“Well, Bricksburg does have to be rebuilt,” Emmet mused, “But with the help of the Master Builders, there won’t be anything left to do soon enough. Besides, as overwhelming as this journey has been, I… had fun.”

Lucy raised an eyebrow. It was an eyebrow of disbelief and they both knew it.

“I really had fun,” he continued. “I wouldn’t mind going on more adventures, even with Batman! I feel like I really grew into a different person since we first met!”

Lucy nudged him. “You’re evidently not that different.”

She was smiling, though. She hadn’t done that very much. It was good to see.

“Let’s get back to work, then.” She stood up. “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can go see what the others are doing. I heard our next build’s going to be a spaceship-submarine.”

“So we can go rebuild Cloud Cuckoo Land!” Emmet cried.

“So we can track down the aliens, dummy.” Lucy said, still smiling. “But yes, that too.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, I watch the LEGO movie three times in a row because I was bored in China. I don't usually watch movies at all, so the plot bunnies infested the only thing they had available.  
This is the first fic I've ever posted, so if you have feedback, please comment! I'd love to hear what you think :)


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